Sir Ed Davey brings Lib Dem campaign to Kent with assault course stunt

KentOnline / KMTV

Liberal Democrat Ed Davey has brought his electoral campaign to Tunbridge Wells where polls are neck and neck. A full list of candidates is available on KentOnline.

Transcript

00:00Oliver, what can you tell us from today?

00:04Honestly, Abby, I should be in Victor's sport for the amount I ran around today

00:07chasing after the Liberal Democrat leader and his parliamentary candidate.

00:11And although he did stumble a bit throughout his obstacle course here,

00:16lots of running around on his part,

00:18he did bounce back a bit like the polls have bounced back in the Liberal Democrats' favour

00:22earlier this week when they launched their campaign.

00:24They saw an increase in their point percentage, a vote share in some polls at YouGov.

00:29Earlier this week they launched their campaign,

00:31which sees a lot about green spaces being mentioned.

00:35Obviously, as you see around me on a very rainy day in Tunbridge Wells,

00:38lots of greenery and it is a very rural county.

00:41We are part of the Greenbelt here and also an area of natural beauty,

00:46the High Weald area of natural beauty, in fact.

00:50So wildlife, housing, big issues, as well as access to green spaces.

00:56But we have heard in this local area just near Bewell Water

00:59about campsites being a disruption to local wildlife.

01:04And I put that to Ed.

01:05Is his party doing enough to bridge the gap between recreation and conservation?

01:11It's a really important balance to strike.

01:14And the way you do it is you work with the local community.

01:17You work with the environmental experts.

01:20I think it really is important that people have greater access to green spaces.

01:24The Liberal Democrats take a very different approach,

01:26which should really reassure people worried about the Greenbelt.

01:29We take a community-led approach.

01:31So the community is very much at the heart of that.

01:34And it means that you deal with the infrastructure issues,

01:36whether it's social infrastructure or the physical infrastructure,

01:38at the same time.

01:40And you get the housing that the community needs.

01:42Where our approach has been applied in this country and elsewhere,

01:45it's been fantastic.

01:47It's produced great quality housing,

01:50but in places that mean the environment can still be protected.

01:53This is possible, but not under the Conservative approach,

01:56where the developers hold all the power.

02:02It's not just about the manifesto here, obviously.

02:05He's here on behalf of his parliamentary candidate, Mike Martin.

02:09Tunbridge Wells is a target seat.

02:11They're hoping to bridge the gap with some of those Conservative voters

02:15who have voted Conservative for a long time.

02:18Neil Mahapatra has recently come out as a local candidate

02:21in the profile to the KM,

02:23slightly critical of Rishi Sunak in it.

02:26And it's going to be a tightly-fought contest.

02:28There's very little in it.

02:30And I asked Mike Martin earlier today

02:32if he's the right man for the job to turn that polling gap around.

02:37Some polls are saying that the Conservatives

02:39are slightly ahead of the Lib Dems.

02:41Other polls are saying the Lib Dems are slightly ahead of the Conservatives.

02:44All of this is less than 1%.

02:46It's within the margin of error.

02:48Basically, Tunbridge Wells is too close to call.

02:51It's neck and neck.

02:53You've got two choices. You can vote Tory or you can vote Lib Dem.

02:56None of the other parties can win.

02:58And no matter who you are in Tunbridge Wells,

03:01most people look at that choice and think that they want change,

03:04they want a fresh start.

03:06And a fresh start in Tunbridge Wells means voting Lib Dem.

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